Secrecy on job cuts

The Advertiser has been excluded from two meetings where Newark and Sherwood District councillors were given updates about the possibility of job losses.

The council is looking at the option of redundancies as it prepares for the 2010-11 budget but numbers have yet to be revealed.

Members of the cabinet last week agreed that a 22-page paper giving an update about the reduction of staffing costs within the authority as part of the budget preparations should be taken as a confidential and exempt item.

The matter then went to a meeting of the council’s policy overview and scrutiny committee on Monday where Mr Ben Wells asked for it be discussed. It was put to the end of the agenda so it could be dealt with as an exempt item.

When it was raised Mr Peter Harris (Lib Dem Southwell) said the Press should be allowed to stay. He said the council should have the moral fibre to discuss the matter in public.

Mrs Maureen Dobson said they needed to ask questions and wanted some answers. She said she was not prepared to put staff under any more difficulties that they were already facing.

“We need to be asking things that are not in the public domain at the moment,” she said.

The council’s strategic director (communities) Mr Steve Palframan said his advice was that the matter should be kept private and members voted to exclude the Advertiser.

In a statement issued later the council’s chief executive, Mr Andrew Muter, said there were likely to be a number of redundancies and the council was currently consulting staff who may be affected.

This year the council needs to save £1.25m and is looking at areas where savings can be made.

The budget is due to be considered by cabinet on February 25. The council tax will be fixed on March 12.